Bowie on cutting edge

Published 4:00 am, Friday, March 3, 1995

PHOENIX - Jim Bowie is caught in a trap. He knows he needs to have a big spring to win a job with the A's. But the union says if he plays in Cactus League games with replacement players, he's a scab.

What to do?

"I'm not crossing," Bowie said.

But he's not happy about his decision.

"I am confused about why I can't play this spring," Bowie said. "Big-league camp helped me a lot last year. And there's a lot of guys here in the same boat, who need a good look."

Management polled its minor-leaguers Thursday morning, the day before the A's were to open their exhibition season against the Giants at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. General manager Sandy Alderson said the team would announce Friday how many agreed to play, but not by name.

Bowie wasn't even invited to the big-league camp last year. When Mark McGwire was hurt in spring training, the journeyman first baseman filled in and did so well that eventually he earned his first trip to the majors.

It only lasted nine days because of the strike. Frozen on the big-league roster, Bowie couldn't return to Tacoma, Oakland's Triple-A team. Instead, he stopped drawing a paycheck.

Yet he still wound up ahead.

"I figured out that I made more in those nine days than I would have if I'd spent the rest of the season in the minors," Bowie said.

For his nine days, he earned about $5,400. Six hundred bucks a day. And that's the big-league minimum. For Bowie, who spent nine years in the minors and was making less than $30,000 a year, it was like hitting the lottery.

"I hope (the strike) ends soon," he said. "This is the first time I've been invited to big-league camp from the start. Last year was the first time I'd ever been in a big-league camp. And this year is the first time I feel I have a legit shot of making the team."

Bowie figures he can fill Troy Neel's open spot on the roster and be McGwire's backup at first base and a left-handed bat off the bench.

But if the A's prized the 30-year-old, they would have kept him on their 40-man roster. The only reason he is in camp is the team passed him through waivers, then signed him as a minor-league free agent.

Bowie is a good first baseman, but that's his only position. Manager Tony La Russa demands versatility of his bench players, one of the reasons the Suisun City native didn't get called up from the minors until August even though he was hitting .314 at Tacoma.

When Bowie finally got his big chance, he struggled. In the six games he played, he only managed three hits in 14 at-bats (.214), none for extra bases, and didn't drive in a run.

Even if it turns out he only can count his big-league days on both hands, Bowie won't complain. Despite the strike, his timing couldn't have been better.

His father, Willard, was afflicted with cancer, which killed him in October. But Willard Bowie died knowing his son finally had achieved his goal and had become a big-leaguer.

"That was gratifying," Bowie said. "I was trying to get him to a game - I wanted him out there for at least one game - but then the strike came. At least he heard the game on the radio or saw me on TV. I was happy for that."

NOTES: The A's did not announce Friday's starting pitcher. La Russa admitted he was trying to "avoid the hassle" of the media rushing the guy. Nor would he name a starting lineup.&lt;